Randrone

Generative music web release, 2014, for Kotä Records

There was no composition involved into creation of this music - the music was absolutely determinded by its environment and by the players. A lot of this cosmic music has no beginning and no end. It's music that proposes that it exists, like myriad other elements that surround us, as a constant element in world, rather than as a finite recording or performance.

David Byrne, about something completely different.

Contemporary composer resembles the maker of a camera who allows someone else to take the picture.

John Cage

Digital technology is now ubiquitous. From everyday-life applications in your phone to high profile government systems. Many products designed by human are remarkably sharp and stable. But the complexity of many systems is so massive so it can't be assembled and guided by a single human mind. Sharing of knowledge within the team of co-workers is inevitable, this leads to unavoidable errors and bugs, which can be caught and fixed with great deal of attention, diligence and sometimes luck.

But errors and bugs are not always unwelcome. Artists began to use actively such artifacts caused by failure of algorithms. Express ideas and thoughts which are sometimes get born at the time the error was caught or seen. This new artistic vision was welcome not only because the artists constantly broaden the understanding of what art is, but also because of consumer of digital content is facing these program glitches and bugs so often so they got used to its "language" and feel okay with that. In its turn, a lot of generative-art experiments provide the ground for better understanding and sorting of such artifacts, moreover, guided by unexplored mathematical rules these art algorithms and occasional errors generate quite wholesome result, ready for comprehension even without a human aesthetic filter.

RanDrone is generative musical form. An attempt to give a voice to the "silicon servant". Drone generative algorithm totally depends on the combination of elements inside the computer. Which somehow connected with the system physical condition, such as: temperature, set of used microchips, their quality, random number generator inside the processor and etc.

Well, it was thoughts before the project was developed. But in the time of working this project out it became clear that for the time of operating (unique not only for the every computer, but for the every script run) free memory is starting to overflow, the processor is starting to use swap-memory on the hard drive at the same time redefining its computing resources and as a result we have drone-melody playing with latency and distortion. This process changes meditative flow of things which were expected by design into revolution of digital system claiming to flow on its own rules, into audio-glitch that lives under unknown rhythmic rules of the World of Microelectronica. In this accidental result I see the nature, the spirit of Chaos without whom no evolution is possible.

For the better effect of the listening session:

  • don't close other applications and programs, even if they are uttering the audio sounds; 
  • don't shut any devices uttering parasite buzz in one of the 50Hrz overtone off;
  • open a window, even if it faces highway or construction yard.

For the better result, I don't recommend to sit quietly and calmly with eyes shut, it's better to be in active phase of physical or mental labor.